Chatting with Dina Keratsis (31 Days of Halloween)

In Cake,
A Fairy Tale, the heroine, Breena, slips into the in-between land called
Cake during “late October, just as the air was
beginning to smell orange and red flames singed leaves on trees.” This is no
coincidence. Halloween itself is an in-between time filled with magic and
shadows and seemed a perfect time for magic to swallow Breena whole, force her
to face her destiny, and find true love along the way.

Halloween is not Breena’s favorite
holiday but it is mine. See?

Even as a baby I knew Halloween was
my day. I am not this excited in photos taken at Christmas, New Year’s, Easter
or Fourth of July.

My earliest memory of the day is carving
pumpkins with Dad while watching Arsenic
and Old Lace. Mom would roast pumpkin seeds and the evening would end with
me dressed as a gypsy and wandering into the night, waiting for that magic to
kindle. I have a few favorite Halloween movies but to this day, Arsenic and Old
Lace is a staple.

My favorite Halloween? The day
after our October wedding, my husband whisked me away on a surprise honeymoon
to Sleepy Hollow, where we spent out Halloween at the Old Dutch Church looking
for the Headless Horseman’s unmarked grave followed by pumpkin ice cream and a
viewing of Sleepy Hollow, of course.

The Halloween spirit permeates Cake
as well. The world of Cake is divided into four seasons. Deep in The Autumnals,
where the air is always crisp and the leaves are perpetually colorful, there is
a swamp called Scar Burrow, which was inspired by The Meteor’s song “Graveyard
Stomp.” Here is where The Old Asylum waits to greet Breena with her greatest
fear.

I think that if you ask her now, Breeena might
tell you that Halloween has become her favorite holiday. You might find her
celebrating with her Rune in their tavern. A glowing jack o’lantern presides
over the room while she serves roast turkey, journey bread with molasses, and a
bowl of pumpkin soup to her patrons. Rune will commence the feast with a
reading of Seamus Heaney’s No Sanctuary:

Dina Keratsis is an award-winning author of
romance fiction in which all roads lead to illumination and magic is found in
the mundane. A New England girl, she has a penchant for punk rock, Scottish tea
rooms and a mad crush on Sirius Black. She lives in Massachusetts with her
husband and two children.